Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is ready to put Senate Democrats to the test on voter ID legislation.

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has earned the backing of 50 Senate Republicans, including Thune, which is enough to break through a key procedural hurdle.

Whether it can pass from the Senate to President Donald Trump’s desk is, for now, an unlikely scenario if lawmakers take the traditional path in the upper chamber. Still, Thune wants to put Democrats on the spot as midterm elections creep closer.

‘We will have a vote,’ Thune told Fox News Digital.

His comments came as he crisscrossed his home state of South Dakota, where he and Republicans in their respective states are out selling their legislative achievements as primary season fast approaches.

Thune viewed the opportunity of a floor vote as a way to have Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus explain to voters why they would block a legislative push to federally enshrine voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote.

‘We will make sure that everybody’s on the record, and if they want to be against ensuring that only American citizens vote in our elections, they can defend that when they have to go out and campaign against Republicans this fall,’ Thune said.

But the political makeup of the Senate will prove a tricky path to navigate if Republicans want to pass the bill.

Though the majority of the Senate GOP backs the bill, without at least a handful of Senate Democrats joining them, it is destined to fall victim to the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

And Schumer has time and again made clear that he and the majority of Senate Democrats view the legislation, which passed the House last week, as a tool of voter suppression that would unduly harm poorer Americans and minority groups.

So Senate Republicans are looking at their options.

One, which Thune already threw cold water on, is nuking the Senate filibuster. The other is turning to the talking, or standing, filibuster. It’s the physical precursor to the current filibuster that requires hours upon hours of debate over a bill.

Some fear that taking that path could paralyze the Senate floor. Thune acknowledged that concern, having previously made it himself, but noted another wrinkle.

‘A lot of people focus on unlimited debate, and yes, it is something that could drag on for weeks or literally, for that matter, months,’ Thune said. ‘But it’s also unlimited amendments, meaning that every amendment — there’s no rules — so every amendment will be 51 votes.’

He argued that there are several politically challenging amendments that could hit the floor that would put members in tough reelections in a hard spot and possibly cause them to pass, which ‘could also be very detrimental to the bill in the end.’

Thune didn’t shut down the idea of turning to the talking filibuster, especially if it ended in lawmakers being able to actually pass the SAVE America Act. But in the Senate, outcomes are rarely guaranteed on politically divisive legislation.

‘I think that, you know, this obviously is a mechanism of trying to pursue an outcome, but I don’t know that, in the end, it’ll get you the outcome you want,’ Thune said. ‘And there could be a lot of ancillary damage along the way.’

Senate Republicans now have enough support within their conference to pass Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but a major hurdle remains.

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has secured the backing of 50 Senate Republicans, following a pressure campaign by the White House and a cohort of Senate conservatives over the past several weeks.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has led the charge in the upper chamber, ramping up his efforts last week as the bill moved through the House.

Lee told Fox News Digital that he was ‘ecstatic’ about the progress made in shoring up support for the legislation and hoped the Senate would move as quickly as possible to consider it. 

‘I would love to see us turn to it next week, perhaps the day after the State of the Union address,’ Lee said. ‘I think that would be good timing. But I think this needs to get done sooner rather than later.’

That multifaceted campaign — both on social media and behind closed doors in the Senate — proved successful, drawing support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and several others.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the 50th senator to back the bill. That gives Republicans the internal support they need to advance the legislation procedurally, but only if they turn to the standing, or talking, filibuster.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., for a weeklong break last week, Lee and other supporters, including Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., pitched the voter ID proposal and potential pathways to pass it to colleagues.

‘We had some good senators stand up and say, ‘No, we got to fight for this,’’ Johnson told Fox News Digital. ‘I’m with them. We need to fight for this.’

Still, the effort faces heavy resistance from Senate Democrats, who are nearly unified in their opposition.

The only potential outlier is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has pushed back against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., characterization of the bill as ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ but has not said whether he would ultimately support the SAVE America Act.

Despite that possibility, Schumer and most of his caucus plan to block the legislation.

‘We will not let it pass in the Senate,’ Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. ‘We are fighting it tooth and nail.’

Not every Senate Republican is onboard, either. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has announced she will vote against the measure, while Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have not signed on as co-sponsors.

One option to bypass Democratic opposition would be nuking the filibuster and its 60-vote threshold — a move some congressional Republicans argue has effectively become a ‘zombie filibuster,’ since legislation can be blocked simply by withholding votes rather than holding the floor.

Despite previous pressure from President Donald Trump to eliminate the filibuster, the move does not have the votes among Republicans to succeed — a point Thune underscored last week.

‘There aren’t anywhere close to the votes — not even close — to nuking the filibuster,’ Thune said.

That leaves a return to the standing, or talking, filibuster — the precursor to today’s procedural hurdle. Under that approach, Senate Democrats would be required to hold the floor and publicly debate their opposition, as senators did for decades before the modern filibuster became standard practice.

The idea appears to be gaining traction among some Republicans, though critics warn it could effectively paralyze the upper chamber for days, weeks or even months, depending on Democrats’ resolve.

Lee said that many senators he’s spoken with are open to the idea, and that those who were reluctant didn’t believe it wouldn’t work. 

‘I understand why people might have questions about a procedure that we’re not familiar with,’ Lee said. ‘It doesn’t mean we don’t have to do it, because we do.’

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested he could take matters into his own hands if Congress cannot pass the SAVE America Act.

In a Truth Social post last week, Trump called the legislation a ‘CAN’T MISS FOR RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS, AND BEYOND.’

‘This is an issue that must be fought, and must be fought, NOW! If we can’t get it through Congress, there are legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted,’ Trump wrote. ‘I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order.’

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is accusing Democrats of being hypocritical in their opposition to Republicans’ latest election integrity bill.

The No. 3 House Republican ripped the rival party after nearly all of them voted against the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act last week, specifically over its provision mandating federally accepted photo identification at the polls. It’s also sometimes referred to as the ‘SAVE Act.’

‘These guys are doing the same old broken record about voter suppression,’ Emmer told Fox News Digital. ‘Why aren’t they screaming about photo IDs at the airport? Why aren’t they screaming about photo IDs when you check out a book at the library?’

Emmer pointed out that a photo ID was required for attendees to watch former Vice President Kamala Harris accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for the White House in Chicago last year.

‘By the way, if they think it’s voter suppression, why do they require photo IDs at the Democrat National Convention to get in?’ Emmer said.

‘I mean, I think Americans are so much smarter than these people can understand, can let themselves understand,’ he said.

The SAVE America Act passed the House on Wednesday with support from all Republicans — an increasingly rare sight in the chamber — and just one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

A previous iteration of the bill, just called the SAVE Act, passed the House in April of last year with support from four House Democrats.

Whereas the SAVE Act would have created a new federal proof-of-citizenship mandate in the voter registration process and imposed requirements for states to keep their rolls clear of ineligible voters, the updated bill would also require photo ID to vote in any federal election.

That photo ID would also have to denote proof-of-citizenship, according to the legislative text.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have both panned the bill, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling it ‘voter suppression’ and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., dismissing it as ‘a modern-day Jim Crow.’

Jeffries also specifically took issue with a provision that would enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to initiate removal proceedings if an illegal immigrant was found on a state’s voter rolls, arguing DHS would weaponize the information.

But voter ID, at least, has proven to be a popular standard in U.S. elections across multiple public polls.

A Pew Research Center poll released in August 2025 showed a whopping 83% of people supported government-issued photo ID requirements for showing up to vote, compared to just 16% of people who disapproved of it.

A Gallup poll from October 2024 showed 84% of people supported photo ID for voting in federal elections.

Some of President Donald Trump‘s top Democratic critics who may run for the White House in 2028 used appearances at a high-profile European conference this past weekend to blast the Republican president’s agenda and try to beef up their foreign policy chops.

But for some of these Democrats with national ambitions, the international stop at the prestigious Munich Security Conference may have backfired.

Meanwhile, a highly anticipated address by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who may be on the GOP’s 2028 ticket, won positive reviews for his charm offensive with European allies bruised by Trump’s aggressive second-term moves towards some of America’s oldest and closest allies.

Eight Democrats considered potential 2028 contenders — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — all descended on Munich.

‘I think they hurt themselves badly,’ Hugh Hewitt, the popular conservative radio talk show host and Fox News contributor, said of the Democrats during an appearance on ‘Fox and Friends.’

But it was Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive champion who has long been laser focused on affordability and other domestic issues, who scored the worst reviews.

‘We are seeing our presidential administration tear apart the transatlantic partnership, rip up every democratic norm,’ Ocasio-Cortez said as she took aim at Trump. ‘I think many of us are here to say we are here, and we are ready for the next chapter, not to have the world turn to isolation, but to deepen our partnership … and increase our commitment to integrity to our values.’

But Ocasio-Cortez was heavily criticized for her gaffe when asked during a panel discussion whether the U.S. should send troops to defend Taiwan from a possible invasion by China.

The four-term lawmaker appeared to stall for nearly 20 seconds before offering that the U.S. should try to avoid reaching a clash with China over Taiwan.

‘AOC is like a parade of clichés. A model U.N. student that didn’t get enough sleep,’ Hewitt argued.

Social media posts by others on the right weren’t as kind, slamming her for offering up a world salad.

But it wasn’t just Republicans who critiqued Ocasio-Cortez.

A veteran Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital, ‘it is abundantly clear that AOC is not ready for prime time given her remarks in Europe.’

Whitmer, the term-limited governor of the key Great Lakes battleground state, was also criticized.

Asked what victory would look like for Ukraine, Whitmer said Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, who were sitting with her on the panel, were ‘much more steeped in foreign policy than a governor is.’

‘Ukraine’s independence, keeping their land mass and having the support of all of the allies, I think, is the goal,’ Whitmer added.

Newsom repeatedly took aim at the president during his appearances.

‘Donald Trump is temporary,’ he said Friday during a climate change discussion. ‘He’ll be gone in three years.’ And he hammered Trump over climate policy, arguing the president is ‘doubling down on stupid.’

‘Never in the history of the United States of America has there been a more destructive president than the current occupant of the White House in Washington, D.C.,’ Newsom charged. ‘Donald Trump is trying to turn back the clock.’

Matt Mowers, a longtime Republican strategist and State Department veteran during Trump’s first administration who later was a 2020 GOP congressional nominee in swing state New Hampshire, gave the Democrats low scores.

‘What we saw on the Democratic side were a bunch of folks who were not ready for prime time,’ Mowers told Fox News Digital. ‘I think the American people are going to look at the circus group that showed up there and wonder if they can trust any of them to be in a position of power and lead America forward.’

But longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, pointing to the Democrats at the conference, told Fox News Digital that ‘speaking in Munich serves to bolster their foreign affairs credentials, especially under the backdrop of the looming 2028 presidential campaign.’

‘It’s unclear which strategy is going to work, but I think regardless of who is successful, they will need a clear and cogent foreign policy to return our position at the global table,’ Caiazzo said.

Rubio’s speech came a year after Vice President JD Vance, the perceived 2028 Republican front-runner, delivered a scathing attack on Europe during his 2025 speech at the security forum.

America’s top diplomat, speaking a month after Trump took a sledgehammer to Europe during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was applauded for saying ‘in a time of headlines heralding the end of the trans-Atlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish, because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.’

Striving to ease tensions fueled by Trump’s push to take control of Greenland and the president’s threats of further tariffs on European nations, Rubio emphasized that ‘the United States and Europe, we belong together.’

But while softer in tone, Rubio’s underlying message was as uncompromising as those of Trump and Vance, that Europe needed to join America’s new reshaped vision for the world, or get out of the way.

And Rubio strongly criticized European nations over their immigration and climate agenda, and slammed the United Nations, saying the world body ‘played virtually no role’ in peace efforts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Pointing to what he called ‘the dynamic duo of JD Vance’s speech last year and Marco Rubio’s speech this year,’ Mowers said, ‘You needed more of a wrecking ball last year to wake everyone up.’

And he said this year, ‘You have someone who can try to bring together more unity based upon a shared framework. But I think the two of them together have done a great job at really explaining what a U.S.-European relationship can look like for the 21st century.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he met with U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

‘Thank you for seeing us,’ Blumenthal can be heard saying in a video included in Zelenskyy’s post. ‘We look forward to hearing from you, ah, about how we can be more helpful.’

Zelenskyy indicated in the post that during the meeting he ‘thanked the United States for its strong bipartisan support and work for peace.’

President Donald Trump has been trying to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, but the two nations remain locked in conflict.

‘Before our meeting, the senators met with children whom Ukraine managed to return from Russia. Thank you, this is truly important,’ Zelenskyy noted in the post.

‘We see no better tools to influence Moscow than pressure. There is an important sanctioning act in the Senate right now, and we expect it to work. I also informed them about the constant Russian strikes on our people and, in particular, on American businesses as well. It is absolutely fair that Russian money should be used to defend against this terror, and we discussed the prospects of utilizing immobilized Russian assets to purchase missiles for the Patriot systems,’ he added.

‘I thank the President, Congress, and the people of the United States for their support,’ Zelenskyy noted.

Fox News Digital reached out to the senators’ offices on Monday.

Democrats were mocked for leaving one of their most popular presidents off their party’s Presidents’ Day message after Republicans noticed that former President Bill Clinton was absent.

The former Arkansas governor and 42nd commander in chief was missing from a ‘Happy President’s Day’ image that included John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Franklin Roosevelt, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The only Democratic presidents missing between Roosevelt and Biden’s tenures were Clinton and Harry Truman.

In response, the RNC retweeted the @TheDemocrats post with an image of Clinton wearing glasses and sitting next to Hillary Clinton, with a concerned or focused look on his face.

‘Forget someone again??’ the RNC caption read.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC to ask whether the omission was intentional and to the Clinton Foundation for comment.

Republicans, meanwhile, posted a Presidents’ Day image of Mount Rushmore featuring a color image of Trump next to President Abraham Lincoln, positioned on the right side of the South Dakota monument.

Their account also retweeted the Department of Health and Human Services, which wrote that ‘This Presidents Day, we honor the leaders who shaped our nation and reaffirm our commitment to serving the health and well-being of every American.’

HHS included a composite of Trump, Lincoln and President George Washington to make their point.

Clinton, one of the most popular presidents in recent history, was not without his share of scandal.

The late Kenneth Starr investigated Clinton for connections to a controversial 1978 land deal in the Ozarks nicknamed ‘Whitewater’ dating to Clinton’s time as Arkansas attorney general.

While Clinton was never charged with wrongdoing, Arkansas business partners Jim and Susan McDougal were convicted in connection with the failed Whitewater deal. Hillary Clinton had previously worked for the law firm that represented Jim McDougal’s bank. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, Clinton’s successor, was also convicted.

But the Whitewater case led Starr to discover what became the Monica Lewinsky scandal — wherein Clinton allegedly had a sexual relationship with a White House intern.

On January 26, 1998, Clinton famously maintained his innocence in the face of impeachment over Starr’s case, declaring at the end of a childcare policy press conference:

‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman.’

‘I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people,’ Clinton added.

The NAACP formally asked a federal judge to protect voter information seized by the FBI from an election warehouse in Atlanta on Sunday.

The NAACP and other organizations say the documents contain ‘sensitive personal information,’ and asked the judge to impose limits on how the FBI can use the data. Their motion argues the seizure from the Fulton County elections building ‘infringed constitutional protections of privacy, and interfered with the right to vote.’

The motion asks the judge to ‘order reasonable limits on the government’s use of the seized data’ and to prohibit the government from using the data for purposes other than the criminal investigation cited in the search warrant affidavit.

That request includes prohibiting any efforts to use it for voter roll maintenance, election administration or immigration enforcement.

They also requested that the judge order the government to disclose an inventory of all documents and records seized, the identity of anyone who has accessed the records outside of those involved in the criminal investigation, any copying of the records and all efforts to secure the information.

The FBI arrived to the elections warehouse on Jan. 28 with a search warrant for documents relating to the 2020 election, including all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.

Sunday’s motion was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on behalf of the NAACP, Georgia and Atlanta NAACP organizations, and the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda. It notes that the seizure happened as the Justice Department has been seeking unredacted state voter registration rolls.

Fulton County officials told reporters this month that FBI agents were seen carrying some 700 boxes of ballots from a warehouse near the election hub and loading them into a truck.

Fulton County has also separately sued the FBI in an effort to have the elections documents returned.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A House GOP lawmaker has become the first member of his party to support a Democrat-led effort to limit presidential pardon power.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., signed on in support of legislation led by Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., to establish a congressional review process for presidential pardons.

It comes after President Donald Trump pardoned five ex-NFL players guilty of various charges including perjury, drug trafficking and counterfeiting. 

‘Across multiple administrations, we’ve seen legitimate questions raised about how this authority has been used at the same time, the ability of Congress to provide oversight has weakened,’ Bacon said in a statement. ‘Frankly, it is clear to me the pardon authority has been abused.’

And while Bacon did not mention Trump directly, Olszewski made clear that the Republican commander in chief is the main impetus for his push for a new constitutional amendment.

‘The announcement follows the Trump Administration’s decision earlier this week to pardon five former NFL players whose charges ranged from perjury to drug trafficking,’ said Olszewski’s press release announcing Bacon’s support on Monday. 

‘The pardons are part of what Olszewski describes as a disturbing pattern of abuses of the presidential pardon power benefiting the wealthy and well-connected.’

The amendment, if adopted, would give Congress the right to initiate a review process for presidential pardons if called for by 20 House members and five senators.

The review process would end with a vote on whether to nullify the pardon, needing two-thirds’ support in both the House and the Senate to succeed. 

The president would then be barred from issuing that same pardon to the same recipient again.

Former President Joe Biden notably took heat from Republicans and even some Democrats when he issued preemptive pardons for his family members and other allies, including son Hunter Biden, shortly before leaving office.

Bacon, a moderate Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, has already announced he is not seeking re-election in November. 

He’s one of several GOP lawmakers in Congress who have been willing to buck Trump on a variety of issues, including the separation of powers.

For instance, Bacon was one of a handful of House Republicans who voted with Democrats to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration at the northern border, which the president had used to justify imposing tariffs on Canada without congressional approval.

Bacon told Fox News Digital at the time, ‘It is time for Congress to make its voice heard on tariffs.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is making a push to have the Pride flag considered on the same level as the U.S. flag in the eyes of the federal government.

Schumer announced plans to introduce legislation that would make the flag, a symbol of the LGBTQ movement, a congressionally authorized flag. The distinction would enshrine the flag with similar protections as the U.S. flag, military flags, POW/MIA flags and others recognized by Congress.

His move comes after the Trump administration removed a Pride flag from a national monument outside the Stonewall Inn earlier this month. A clash between police and patrons at a gay bar in the 1960s is widely considered the birth of the gay rights movement.

‘Stonewall is sacred ground and Congress must act now to permanently protect the Pride flag and what it stands for,’ Schumer said. ‘Trump’s hateful crusade must end.’

The flag has since been reinstalled atop the pole outside the Stonewall Inn, and Schumer’s legislative push would prevent it from being taken down in the future.

President Donald Trump has not explicitly targeted the Pride flag but previously signed an executive order restricting what types of flags may be displayed on federal property to ensure only the U.S. flag is prominently flown.

The Pride flag was taken down from the monument following an internal memo from the Department of the Interior ordering ‘non-agency’ flags at national parks be removed.

The directive, signed by National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Bowron in late January, included certain exceptions to the rule, including historical flags, military flags and federally recognized flags from tribal nations.

The Stonewall National Monument, first designated by former President Barack Obama in 2016, falls under the agency’s supervision. The Pride flag atop a large flagpole outside the famous gay bar did not fall under the list of protected flags and pennants.

‘The very core of American identity is liberty and justice for all — and that is what this legislation would protect: each national park’s ability to make its own decision about what flag can be flown,’ Schumer said. ‘Attempts to hurt New York and the LGBTQ community simply won’t fly, but the Stonewall Pride flag always will.’

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement involving the U.S. and Hungary on Monday.

During remarks at the signing ceremony, Rubio indicated that the U.S.-Hungary relationship, and the relationship between President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is very close.

The American diplomat described the relationship between the two nations as being ‘as close as I can possibly imagine it being.’

Rubio, during remarks delivered alongside Orbán, asserted, ‘Your success is our success.’ 

He noted that if Hungary ever faces financial problems, impediments to growth or threats to national stability, he knows ‘President Trump will be very interested’ in ‘finding ways’ to help.

Trump has praised Orbán and backed him for re-election.

‘Highly Respected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, is a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results. He fights tirelessly for, and loves, his Great Country and People, just like I do for the United States of America. Viktor works hard to Protect Hungary, Grow the Economy, Create Jobs, Promote Trade, Stop Illegal Immigration, and Ensure LAW AND ORDER!’ Trump declared on Truth Social this month. 

‘Relations between Hungary and the United States have reached new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement under my Administration, thanks largely to Prime Minister Orbán. I look forward to continuing working closely with him so that both of our Countries can further advance this tremendous path to SUCCESS and cooperation. I was proud to ENDORSE Viktor for Re-Election in 2022, and am honored to do so again. Viktor Orbán is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary — HE WILL NEVER LET THE GREAT PEOPLE OF HUNGARY DOWN!’ Trump added.